Diagram Editor Tab (Options)

General (Group)

Auto scrolling – this option ensures that when you move the cursor near the bounds of the working area or outside it while you hold the pressed mouse button, the diagram editor will automatically scroll to show the part of the diagram where you point.

Smooth scrolling – enables gradual animated scrolling in the diagram editor. If it is not enabled the unanimated scrolling with immediate change is used.

Natural line breaks – the option allows the renderer to divide the long (non-fitting) texts by words if they are combined in a single word without a space.

Auto size elements after editing – enables automatic resizing of elements by their content. The resizing can work in various modes:

• Auto enlarge and shrink – elements can get bigger and smaller to always occupy only the necessary space.
• Auto enlarge – elements can get only bigger. They do not shrink when the content is removed.
• Preserve width if possible – the editor tries to preserve the width during resizing. The width is changed only when the vertical space is not sufficient.

Relationship rendering order – sets the order in which the connectors and relationships will be rendered. The following options are available:

• Default – the relationships are rendered by their z-order
• Always on top – the relationships are rendered on top of other elements.
• Always on background – the relationships are rendered under all other elements.

Draw hop-on relationship intersection – enables marking the intersection between two connectors with a small arc.

Element whole area moving – enables moving an element by dragging of any its part. If disabled the moving is possible only using the dedicated grips.

• Threshold – defines the length (in pixels) of the first mouse move to

Highlight references – enables highlighting the references of selected fields and connectors. (E. g. if you select an ERD entity field, an associated relationship will be highlighted in the diagram editor)

Container (Group)

This group allows setting how to work with containers and their nested elements.

Add to container - there are three possible ways how to add elements to a container:

• Partially overlapped elements - an element will be added to a container when they are intersected at the end of moving.
• Fully overlapped elements - an element will be added to a container when its bounds are fully contained by the container at the end of moving.
• When cursor over container - an element will be added to a container when the cursor is over the container at the end of moving.

Ask for container inflation - enables asking before inflating the container in cases when the container content overflows its bounds.

Auto inflate - if checked, the bounds of the container are automatically enlarged to include all new nested elements.

Prefer selection over move inside containers – enables area selection of elements within a container. If disabled, the container moving is preferred over the area selection.

Pin container headers – enables the constant rendering of the headers of large containers on the top or left side of the canvas when the original header is scrolled out of view. This option is especially useful for large swimlanes, lifelines, and packages.

Renaming (Group)

The settings in the Renaming group allow you to adjust the way the renaming is activated and processed.

Single click – the renaming starts on a single click.

Second click – the renaming starts on the second click. First, you have to select the element and then click on the field again to start editing it.

Double click – the field editing starts after double click on it.

Action on Enter press – the setting defines what happens when you press Enter key during the field (e. g. name label) editing. There are three options:

• Default – the following action depends on the element type. For the fields that are usually single-lined, it confirms the edited value and ends the editing. For the fields that are defined as usually multi-lined, the Enter adds another line and does not end the editing.
• Always confirmation – after pressing Enter key, the editing is finished for all the element types.
• Always new line – after pressing Enter key, another line is inserted into the text for all the element types.

Grid (Group)

Snap to grid - aligns elements to the grid when they are moved or their size is changed. Snapping works also without showing the grid.

Show grid - shows the grid in the diagram editor. The grid can be showed also without snapping to it.

Grid type – the grid in the diagram editor can be set to one of the following types:

• Default – horizontal and vertical guiding lines.
• Crosses – crosses that mark the grid snapping points.
• Dots – small dots that mark the grid snapping points.

Horizontal spacing - defines the horizontal distance between the two nearest horizontal lines of the grid.

Vertical spacing - defines the vertical distance between the two nearest vertical lines of the grid.

Snap Lines (Group)

Auto snap lines - calculates and shows automatic snap lines and also snap to them.

Snapping distance - defines the maximal distance from which an element is snapped to the nearest snap line.

Design (Group)

This group contains settings for the background of the diagram editor.

Background color - specifies the first background color of the diagram editor background gradient.

Background color - specifies the second background color of the diagram editor background gradient.

Default Settings for Elements (Group)

Repository level – specifies the default repository level for the new elements. It can be Diagram, Model, or Project.

Default line style – specifies the default line style for the connectors. One of these options can be set: Last Used, Straight, Oblique, Rectangular, Curve, Rounded Rectangular, Smooth

Auto path for connectors – specifies whether an auto-path should be used for newly created connectors:

• None – auto-path is disabled
• Auto – auto-path is enabled
• Auto (Adjusted Side) – auto-path is enabled, the ends of connectors are not connected strictly to one side of the element.

Element visibility - specifies the default visibility (undefined/private/protected/package/public) of newly created elements.

Attribute visibility - specifies the default visibility (undefined/private/protected/package/public) of newly created attributes.

Operation visibility - specifies the default visibility (undefined/private/protected/package/public) of newly created operations.

Role visibility - specifies the default visibility (undefined/private/protected/package/public) of newly created roles.

Format Virtual as italic – virtual attributes and operations are rendered with the italic font style.

Show nullability - specifies the default showing of nullability (NULL/NOT NULL) for newly created ERD entity attributes.

Clipboard (Group)

Show paste dialog - if checked, the Paste dialog with options will show on each paste action. If not checked, the option specified by the radio buttons below will be used.

Paste as independent copy (new model) - copied elements will be pasted as independent copies. The changes on pasted elements will not affect the original copied elements.

Paste as instance of existing element (shared model) - copied elements will be pasted with a shared model. The changes on pasted elements will affect the original copied elements.

Exported image size – defines the multiplier that is used when exporting a diagram to an image format for the clipboard. The default value is 1 = 100 %.

Mouse wheel (Group)

The group provides the settings for mouse wheel default actions. You can set the following actions for mouse wheeling: None, Zoom, Vertical scroll, Horizontal scroll.

Default mouse wheel – sets the action for the mouse wheel without any modifier key.

Mouse wheel + CTRL – sets the action for the mouse wheel with the CTRL key pressed.

Mouse wheel + SHIFT – sets the action for the mouse wheel with the SHIFT key pressed.

Indicators (Group)

Multiple usage of element – displays indicator (Plus icon) for the elements that have multiple instances.

Associated diagrams – displays indicator (Bent arrow icon) for the elements with associated diagrams.

Creators and participants – displays labels with creators’ and participants’ names for each diagram element.

Documentation – displays indicator (Document icon) for the elements with defined documentation.